Second Chance
by Charlie28
Summary: Rescued against her will from the BOFA, Luna, captain of Erebor, has been kept hidden from all in Rivendell for sixty years, suffering from memory loss, until today, as a whole new quest to save Middle-Earth from Sauron calls for her. Will she be able to fight alongside a new company tough and recover from her One's death? Nothing ever seemed less certain...
1. The girl from Rivendell

_**Hello again everyone! As promised, here is another story with my main character, Luna! This time, it's based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  
For those of you who haven't read my previous fan fiction, here is a little summary : Luna is a young dwarf, last heir of the long line of the captains of the royal guard of Erebor, sworn to protect the line of Durin until death and follow her king no matter what. After the destruction of what remained of her family by the orcs who hate her line, she found herself as the last captain and took part in the quest for Erebor. Many things happened on the way, including her falling in love with Kili, heir of Durin that she has to protect and her childhood friend. Their love was reciprocal and more than that, they were each other's Ones. Unfortunately, Kili died during the battle of five armies and, while she thought she would die as well, she was saved by an elf from Rivendell, Haleth, that Elrond had sent to rescue her as he had had a vision in which he had seen that her part in the History of Middle-Earth wasn't over yet. Seriously wounded, with a leg amputated, she then woke up three months after the battle in Rivendell and when she learned that the line of Durin was now extinct and that everyone thought her dead as well, the shock caused her to loose all her memories.**_

_**I already mentioned it at the beginning of my previous story, and hopefully I got better now but I repeat it again here : I am not an English native-speaker, I just love this language and wishes to improve myself so please be nice to me and I am always very glad to get reviews on my writing style as well in order to work on it.**_

_**I hope you will enjoy it! :)**_

_**Charlie **_

* * *

**Chapter 1 : The girl from Rivendell **

_It was strangely cold, a cold such a she didn't remember she had ever experienced. Snowflakes were starting to fall around her and she was shivering. She was standing in the middle of what looked like an old watchtower that was now only ruins. _

_Suddenly, she heard the sound of steel clashing against steel and snapped her head up. There was a fight nearby and she didn't know why but she felt that she had to go and find out more. _

_There were a couple of steps in front of her that she quickly climbed up then turned a few corners, climbed a few more steps and finally arrived on a high, solitary platform. Again, she was too late. At her feet laid a giant orc, a dagger planted in its neck. From next to him started a trail of blood that her eyes followed until they landed on the two silhouettes laying together on the ground a bit farther.  
She couldn't quite discern their features from where she was, she could just see that the one who had left a trail of blood when he had crawled towards the other one was a dwarf with messy dark hair hiding his face that was turned to the other person with him. The only thing she could see from that second person was a flash of auburn curls. _

_She stepped forward, decided to walk to them and finally see who they were but like every other night, the platform suddenly collapsed underneath her feet and she fell into darkness with a soundless cry.  
_

* * *

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you"

The young girl looked up from her book at the person who had just talked. He was an elf, which wasn't surprising regarding that they were in Rivendell where the lord Elrond lived.

"Everywhere? I wasn't even hiding" she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

He sighed and looked at her with more attention. Her long auburn curls were framing her beautiful face where two extraordinary eyes were shining. They were dark blue like the sky by a warm summer night and although stars always seemed to be shining in them, they had lost their light sixty years ago and had never seemed to have found it again.  
Those who didn't know the young girl just found her beautiful and didn't notice that little detail, but for those who had known her before she lived in Rivendell, it was plain that her eyes had never shone with the same light that they used to before.

She bore another surprising feature on her face : a white moon-shaped scar just underneath her eye, on her left cheek. She didn't know it anymore, but she had gotten that scar the day of her birth when the dragon Smaug had settled into her kin's home ; Erebor. However, whenever she asked where it came from, everyone here told her it was just a birth mark that she had probably always had.

Hiding her the truth had never been easy from the start. Besides that scar on her face, she bore many others that she had gotten in what some who knew her story called her "previous life", and particularly in the event that had marked its end sixty years ago : the legendary battle of five armies in front of the doors of the dwarfish kingdom of Erebor.

She had been so close to death after that battle that it was a miracle that she was still alive and amongst all her injuries, her right leg had been so badly hurt after Bolg had smashed it with his mace that Elrond had had to amputate it up to her knee and she now had a wooden leg and walked with a staff.

He, Haleth, was the one who had found her still alive in her lover's arms and had brought her to Rivendell at his lord's request after the last had had a vision in which he had seen that she had to live for her part in the story of Middle-Earth wasn't over yet.

Did she know any of this? No.

When she had woken up three months after the battle in Rivendell, the shock she had had learning that the line of Durin was over and that everyone thought her dead had been too much for her and she had collapsed. When she had come around again a couple of hours later, she had forgotten everything except her name, Luna.

She didn't remember where she was and couldn't recognise Elrond nor Gandalf. She didn't remember where she came from, that she was a dwarf from one of the oldest lines of Erebor. She didn't remember her family and how they had all died, she had never heard of the lonely mountain or its captains and had no memory of the quest that had brought her there with a company of dwarves.

Even worse, she didn't remember the ones she had almost died for ; the king under the mountain Thorin and his two nephews, Fili and Kili, and especially Kili who had been her One but who had died with the two others during the battle. She had no memory of fighting Bolg or taking a blow for him and no memory of succumbing to darkness in his arms while he was dying.

"Haleth? Can you hear me?" she called, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, I was thinking. I came to find you, you are invited to Elrond's table tonight, you should go and prepare yourself"

"Yes, I know" she sighed, rolling her eyes. "You've been saying that all day long"

"It's just that I know how forgetful you can be"

He ignored the dark glance she shot him.

"You look tired" he noticed, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged her shoulder.

"I didn't sleep very well last night, that's all"

"Did you have the same nightmare again?" he asked in a lower voice, suddenly a bit worried.

She slowly nodded.

"Always and always the same. The cold, the snow, the abandoned towers…then the two silhouettes lying on the ground and every time I try to get near them, everything collapses, as if I wasn't supposed to see who they are"

He bit his lip. How were they ever going to tell her that the two people she saw almost every night laying on that platform were no other than herself and the love of her life?

"I'll ask someone to prepare a nice tea for you tonight, it will help you sleep" he said. "But for now, we should go, it's getting late and it's almost dinner time. Are you coming?"

He held out his hand to her and she closed her book then took it and he carefully helped her up on her feet -or at least, on her remaining foot.

"I'm fine" she said, pushing his hands away when he tried to help her walk and she grabbed her staff. "I'm capable of walking, thank you"

He did not insist. She had more in common than she knew with the old Luna, and her stubbornness and hate of appearing weak was one of them.

He still remembered the first time he had met her, when she had been facing down a whole pack of wargs on her own to save the lives of the company of Thorin Oakenshield…and here she was sixty years later, only the ghost of what she had once been, forever wounded both physically and mentally, not even remembering who she truly was.

They walked for a bit towards the palace in silence then she stopped and turned her eyes towards the mountains surrounding the valley of Imladris. A little sigh escaped her lips as her eyes trailed on the landscapes around them, searching for the horizon that she could not see.

"Have you been beyond these mountains?" she absentmindedly asked and a little smile stretched his lips.

"How many times will you ask that question?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I like to hear you talk about what's out there"

"Plains, forests, lakes, mountains, small villages, great kingdoms,…and if you go West, at the very end you'll find what my eyes have yet never seen but crave for"

"What's that?" she asked although she knew the answer by heart.

"The ocean. An immensity of water, stretching farther than even elves can see. And beyond it, the land where I shall hope to go one day"

"Valinor"

"Yes"

She paused for a little moment then turned towards him again.

"Do you think I have ever seen it?" she asked in a lower voice.

He bit his lip. He knew she hadn't, she had always lived in the blue mountains with her father and brother before joining the quest to reclaim Erebor but as he had done for the past sixty years, he had to pretend he had never met her before she arrived in Rivendell.

"I don't know" he vaguely said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't think I have" she pensively said.

"Why not?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, it's just a feeling…but if I had seen such a wonderful thing, I'd at least remember that, wouldn't I?"

"I am not sure, Luna. When you woke up here sixty years ago, the only thing you remembered was your name"

"I wish I could remember" she sighed. "You know, sometimes I have a feeling that going away from here might help me"

"Luna…" he started with a sigh.

"I know, I know, we've already been through this at least a hundred times…but from what you and Elrond said, I had never been here before sixty years ago…maybe if I left and passed by places where I have already been, I'd remember. Memories might come back to me if my eyes landed on things they have already seen"

"Maybe…" he vaguely said.

He knew she was probably right. Elrond had already said the same thing : to make the same journey she had made with the company of Thorin Oakenshield sixty years ago or to go back to Erebor or even only to be told about Kili would probably bring back her memory but he also knew that all this was because no matter what had happened, she was still more or less the same Luna she had once been and that Luna wasn't made to live for so long in only one place.

They had quickly understood that their biggest challenge would be to convince her to stay in Rivendell. It had taken her a couple of years to properly heal from her injuries and find enough self-confidence after her memory loss but soon afterwards, they had started to catch her more and more often absentmindedly staring at the mountains around them and at the road that lead out of the valley.

Very quickly, she had started to read books about Middle-Earth, its people, its kingdoms, its geography,…It had sometimes proved quite hard for the elves to keep away from her all the informations that could, one way or another, awaken her suspicion. She had also asked many times about her past but all they always said was that they did not know anything. She inquired about people looking for her after her accident, they said they had never seen anyone. And at the beginning, she had asked many times if she could just leave for a couple of days or a couple of weeks to explore Middle-Earth and they had always found good reasons to dissuade her : the world was full of dangers, especially for a young girl like her, she wasn't able to walk very properly anymore, even less run,…it was a miracle that it had lasted for the past sixty years. It was true that anyway, she would have a hard time wandering very far on her own with only one leg but she was still Luna and the young girl was capable of very surprising things.

"Come on" he said, gently pushing her forward. "Let's go"

* * *

"Lord Elrond, you called for me?" Haleth humbly asked with a little bow as he entered the elf's impressive office.

"Indeed, I have. Please take a seat"

So did he, shooting a questioning glance at a third person present in the room as well.

"As you see, Gandalf joined us a bit earlier" Elrond said.

"It's nice to see you again, Mithrandir, although I have a feeling your coming isn't as good an omen as it looks"

The wizard chuckled.

"You always see clear in any situation" he softly said. "But indeed you are right, I fear that my coming here is the beginning of great perils. Tell me, how is Luna?"

"Not much different from how she was last time you came. I was just with her actually, she still talks about leaving the valley and wishes to remember. She has had the same dream again, they come more and more often I fear"

"I think her wish is about to be granted. The time will soon come for her to remember who she really is and what happened sixty years ago"

"What do you mean?" Haleth asked, his eyes passing from Elrond to the wizard in worry.

"Big powers that I am afraid we still don't quite understand are on the move" Elrond gravely explained. "Sauron, the dark lord of Mordor, has returned"

"Sauron?" the elf gasped. "But…wasn't he destroyed three thousands years ago?"

"His body was, but his soul is linked to only one thing that we had thought lost for a very long time"

"The One Ring" Gandalf nodded.

"What does that mean? Was it found at last?"

"It was right in front of my eyes for the past sixty years in the Shire. I knew Bilbo Baggins had found a ring of power during the quest for Erebor, but I had no idea it was the One Ring. And now, Sauron wants it back as much as the ring itself wants to go back to his master"

"But…the hobbit needs to be warned, doesn't he?"

"No, not him. The ring is actually not in his hands anymore, he left it to his nephew a couple of weeks ago before leaving the Shire. I outran him, he should be arriving in Rivendell in the next couple of days. He means to go back to Erebor and will stop here. Before he comes tough, I will be gone in the South. There are some things I must make sure are true about that ring before taking any important decision. Nonetheless, things are on the move and I have no doubt that the vision lord Elrond had sixty years ago about Luna is about to happen"

"Wait…Bilbo Baggins is on his way to Rivendell?!" Haleth repeated, his eyes growing wide. "But…if he sees Luna, he will recognise her and maybe that if she sees him…"

"She will remember" Elrond nodded, finishing his sentence. "It is time"

"But what if…what if she reacts like she did sixty years ago when she woke up? We can't just…"

"Haleth, the memory loss she suffered from was her mind's very last way to protect her but sixty years have now passed, she is able to face the truth"

"How do you know that?"

"There is more to her than you ever wanted to see"

"When she learns that we lied to her and kept her away from her kin for sixty years, she will despise us"

"She probably will at first, but Luna is smart and reasonable, she will soon understand that we had no choice and get over it"

"But she…"

"Haleth" Elrond interrupted him in a softer voice. "You were her friend before she lost her memory and you still are now. You know how strong she is, and that we can't hide her the truth forever. Sooner or later, she will end up leaving Imladris and then she will remember. Do you want her to do this all on her own or do you want to be there for her?"

He sighed and stood up, ready to leave.

"Do for the best, I'll trust you on this. But please…don't hurt her more than necessary"

"I promise" the elf lord swore.

* * *

Sixty years. He couldn't believe it had been that long since the last time he had come here. Bilbo paused for a little moment on the way leading to Rivendell, at the spot that gave the best view on the valley and a little smile stretched his lips.

He was tired, more than he had thought he would be even when he would reach Erebor. The journey from the Shire had seemed long and he was slowly coming to the realisation that he was now very old.

However, as his eyes trailed on Imladris, none of that mattered and with tears dwelling up in his eyes, he remembered the first time he had come here with the company of Thorin Oakenshield. That time, they had come from a hidden path in which they had fallen after a chase against a whole orc pack. He remembered well that at the time, despite the magnificence of this place, he hadn't been able to chase the worry away from his mind as Luna hadn't been able to follow them down the path and had remained behind to face the orcs.

Like in a dream, Bilbo crossed the bridges leading to the palace where he was only half-surprised to find Elrond himself waiting for him with a fond smile on his face.

"Welcome, dear friend" the elf warmly greeted.

"Lord Elrond" the old hobbit muttered.

And before he knew he was doing it, he stepped towards the elf and hugged him. Elrond seemed surprised at first then returned his embrace.

"It is good to see you"

"I am not entirely surprised to find you waiting for me. Who warned you of my coming?"

"I always know who passes by here, my friend. I hear that you are on your way to Erebor?"

"Yes, that was my plan…but I must say, I am exhausted from my journey, much more than I thought I'd be. I'm getting old, and I think I shall rest here for a little while if you allow me"

"You are always more than welcome. Come, I see you're tired. A good meal and a warm bed have been prepared for you"

* * *

_The cold, the snowflakes and the watch tower again. This time, she was decided to not lose any time and without even taking the time to look around her, she raced up the stairs and stepped over the dead orc on the little platform. There they were, the two people laying together on the ground. She kept her eyes fixed on them. She didn't know why but she needed to know who they were. As she got closer and closer to them, she saw for the first time that the second person, the one she had only ever been able to see the auburn curls, was also a dwarf and was a young woman. She didn't quite see her face that was turned towards the other dwarf's but before everything collapsed again, her eyes landed on the girl's right leg that looked all but destroyed.  
_

* * *

The next morning, Luna had woken up so early that she met no one on her way to the gardens where she wanted to sit in her favourite spot on a little bench to try and clear her thoughts.

She had woken up so suddenly from her dream that she had had to bit down on a cry as pain irradiated from her amputated right leg. At first she had thought it was just the same dream once again like almost every night but then as she had pushed her blankets away and that her eyes had landed on her leg, she had frozen.

The girl in her dream had auburn curls, she nervously tugged at hers, the exact same ones she saw every night. And her leg…her _right_ leg had looked so damaged and destroyed that front a single look she had known that it was beyond the point of saving. She absentmindedly rubbed what remained of her own right leg that Elrond had always described to her, whenever she asked about what had happened, as _so damaged there was nothing even he could have done anything to save it_.

It had been vain to try and fall back asleep after that so she had just waited in her bed until the sun rose then she had taken the direction of the gardens. She needed some fresh air to clear her thoughts and she didn't want to be disturb. At this time, she knew no one would come to find her there and it was for the best.

Since she had woken up from that dream, the girl's hair and leg came back in her mind even when she tried her best to push them away. Was it possible that all these nights she had been seeing herself laying on that platform? So many questions were echoing in her head that it hurt. If it was really her, what had she been doing there, obviously in the middle of a fight? And, especially, who was that other dwarf in whose's arms she had been ready to die?

She was walking at a slower pace than usual due to the pain in her leg that hadn't disappeared yet and although she had put on her wooden prothesis and was leaning on her staff, she was happy to know that after the next turn, she would have arrived at her little bench where she would finally be able to sit.

When she arrived there however, she suddenly froze when she saw that it was already occupied by someone who she had never seen here. He wasn't an elf, not even a dwarf and she recognised from what she had read about them a hobbit. A very old hobbit, reading a book on her little bench.

She hoped he hadn't heard her and that she would be able to discreetly turn her heels and go away before he noticed her but of course, the sound of her staff taping against the ground had caught his attention and he turned his head in her direction.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt" she quickly said. "I'll just go and…"

He didn't even listen to her. Bilbo had heard the person coming and had expected some nice company to read his book but as his eyes landed on the young girl, he stopped breathing for a moment.

The auburn curls falling freely in her back, the white moon-shaped scar on her cheek and the amazing deep blue eyes…there was no mistake possible. Either he was dead too, either he was dreaming. He didn't even realise that he dropped his book that fell to the ground.

"Luna?!" he gasped.


	2. Old friend

_**Hey everyone! Thank you for your reviews, I am so pleased to see that you guys are excited about this new story, I swear I will do my best to make your reading **_**_worthwhile. When I updated the last chapter, you might have gotten two emails saying there were two chapters already but there wasn't, sorry about that, I made a mistake when posting the first chapter. Anyhow, here is the second one, I hope you will enjoy it! :) _**

* * *

**Chapter 2 : Old friend **

They stared at each other in shock for a moment until the young girl stumbled backwards and held her staff tighter as she felt that her legs might give way underneath her.

"Luna, is it really you?" the hobbit gasped again, standing up.

"I…do we know each other?" she mumbled.

"It's me…Bilbo!"

_Bilbo_. She had never heard that name during all the time she had spent here in Rivendell, yet she knew at once that it was familiar.

"I thought you were dead! We all thought you were dead! How…how…" the hobbit went on, talking precipitately and faster every second.

He stepped towards her but she stepped backwards very quickly, as if to get away from him. That made him freeze and he frowned when he saw the look of total confusion on her face. She had paled and it almost looked as if she was going to be sick.

"Luna?" he called.

All of a sudden, she turned around and ran away as fast as she could with her staff and one valid leg.

* * *

"Lord Elrond! Elrond!"

At one hundred and eleven, Bilbo had never ran so fast that at this moment. He raced from the garden to the elf's office where he knew that despite the early hour, he would find him.

Some elves were greeting him good morning on the way but he didn't even take the time to answer them and when he arrived in front of the office, he didn't bother knocking and burst in the room.

Elrond was there indeed. He looked up in surprise from a parchment he had been reading.

"Bilbo! What a…"

"Lord Elrond! It's…I…"

The hobbit was out of breath and his hands were shaking. He was too old for that kind of thing. Elrond stood up and helped him sit on a chair to catch his breath.

"What's going on?" he asked with more worry in his voice.

"It's…I…I saw…it's impossible…"

"What did you see?"

"Luna" he gasped.

The elvish lord suddenly fell silent and he looked grave but Bilbo didn't see it and slowly realised how silly that sounded. With Dwalin, he was the last person to have seen the young girl alive when she had raced after Kili in the abandoned watch towers of Ravenhill. After the battle, they had found Kili's body and evidence that she had been there too but despite all their efforts, they had never found her and had had to admit that she was most likely dead.

And she was. It had broken him to suffer the death of Thorin, Fili, Kili and Luna, especially because he had grown so fond of the girl during their quest and that she had ended up making him a guard of Erebor. She had been his captain, even if it had been for a very short time, and she was still as for today the bravest and most extraordinary person he had ever met. It had taken him a long time to get over her death and now that he had finally done it, he couldn't believe what he had seen. It wasn't true, his old mind was playing tricks on him. Plus why would she be in Rivendell? That was none sense.

He shook his head and looked a bit awkward.

"I…I am sorry I have disturbed you like that, it was probably nothing…just an illusion" he mumbled.

"No, Bilbo. It wasn't an illusion"

"But…the girl I saw can't be…"

"Yes. It was Luna"

* * *

The young girl ran farther than she would have ever thought possible with her missing leg. She reached the very end of the gardens, where barely anyone went and collapsed against a tree with a cry of pain.

Her leg hadn't hurt that much in a very long time but there was something else, something even more painful coming from her chest right where her heart was and she did not know what it was.

Gasping for breaths, she did not even realise that she fell to the ground and curled up in a little ball, desperately trying to ease the terrible pain.

_Luna…_

What could possibly be causing so much pain? True that she had had a deep wound in her back from a blade that had almost pierced her all the way to her chest -from what Elrond had told her- but that was sixty years ago and it had healed, only leaving a scar in her back. It couldn't be it, but if it wasn't, then what on earth was it?!

_Luna. _

Someone was calling her, but it wasn't a voice she remembered…or at least, not one she had heard in the past sixty years. Yet, just like the name of Bilbo had sounded familiar, she knew she had already heard that voice. More than that, she had a feeling that she had at one time liked the sound of it.

"Luna!"

This time, it wasn't the same voice anymore but one that she recognised at once. She didn't have to open her eyes to know that Haleth was racing towards her and kneeling at her side.

"Luna, what's happening?!" he asked, his voice filled with worry and gently turning her over.

"It hurts!" she gasped.

"What? Is it your leg?"

"No…my…my heart!"

Haleth fell silent and she wondered if she hadn't just lost consciousness for a moment.

She knew she hadn't when she suddenly felt sick and turned around to throw up while the elf gently held her hair.

"What's happening to me?" she gasped, the pain and the strange voice fading a little bit.

"You are starting to remember" he whispered.

"To remember what?"

"Your past"

She looked up at him and he read fear in her eyes. Was she really afraid, after all these years of wondering, to learn where she came from and what had brought her here? At the same time, he couldn't help but think that if he was her, he'd wish to never remember.

"Come" he sighed.

She didn't say anything as he scooped her up in his arms to bring her back to her room.

* * *

"I can't believe it" Bilbo muttered.

He was still sitting on the chair in Elrond's office. The elf had just finished telling him everything that had happened to the young girl after the battle of five armies, including the vision he had had about her that had lead him to rescue her and keep her hidden here for sixty years.

"I stayed…I stayed a couple of weeks in Erebor after the battle to help the dwarves look for her…I was really hoping she would be found, and if possible alive…I was devastated when we had to resign ourselves and declare her dead…and in the meanwhile, she was being taken to here…"

"It's…"

"I passed by here on my way back to the Shire with Gandalf! I stayed here for a little while, how come have I never seen her then? Why didn't you tell me she was here?"

"She hadn't woken up yet and as long as she hadn't, we couldn't even be sure that she would survive. Plus, we could tell no one, I'm sorry"

"I don't understand…what would it have changed that she remained with the dwarves? Or at least that she remembered what had happened to her?"

"It was never out intention to hide her the truth from the start…when she woke up, we told her everything and the shock made her lose her memory. We discussed for a very long time whether we should tell her everything or not but we ended up deciding against it, or at least postposing it. Her memory-loss was her mind's last way to protect her. Without it, she probably wouldn't have survived ; she needed to be strong to recover from her wounds. If she had lived knowing that Kili was dead and that everyone thought her dead as well, she would have let herself die. People too often underestimate the ability of dwarves to love. Rare are those who find their One but when they do, they usually can't live without them"

"But why not telling her afterwards, once she had recovered?"

"We thought about it…but then again, if her mind was keeping the truth from her, it was for a good reason. We decided that we wouldn't tell her anything ourselves. In time, she would remember by herself and I think that this time has come"

"How do you know that?"

"From the beginning, she sometimes had strange dreams that she told us about. She does not know it yet but those dreams are actually some of the scenes that she lived during the quest and especially during the battle. And for a few months now, those dreams have come more and more often, one in particular where she finds herself on the platform where she and Kili fought and killed Bolg and where Kili died. Every night, she sees the same thing, and every night she gets closer to finding out who the two people laying in each other's arms are. Plus, from what you said, she ran away when she heard your name…my guess is that she knows it"

"Alright, but why keep her away from everyone? The dwarves…they needed her in Erebor, they still do"

"Bilbo, if she had seen them, she would have remembered everything and as I said, she wouldn't have been able to bear it. Plus, imagine the guilt that will weigh on her shoulders once she learns that the three dwarves she was meant to protect are dead and that she is still alive. Returning her to Erebor would have been like sending her to death. Besides, the part she is now meant to play in the history of Middle-Earth doesn't involve the lonely mountain"

"Does Gandalf know?"

"Yes. He was…"

"Lord Elrond!" an elf suddenly came in the office.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, it's Haleth. He calls for you"

"Haleth? Where is he?"

"With the lady Luna, in her room"

Bilbo and Elrond exchanged a worried glance then they followed the elf in the corridors until the girl's room.

There, they found her laying on her bed, asleep, and Haleth was sitting on a chair next to it. He stood up when they came in. There was a look of sadness on his face.

"What happened?" Elrond asked at once, his eyes passing from him to the young girl.

"She is starting to remember" the elf sadly said, shrugging his shoulders. "I found her in the gardens, in pain and unable to walk"

Elrond gently pressed his hand against her forehead.

"This is not going to be easy" he sighed.

"Did you really expect it to be?" Bilbo coldly replied, shooting both elves a dark look.

He had walked to the bed as well and had carefully taken Luna's hand in his. He still couldn't quite believe it was real but there was no mistake. She looked almost exactly like in his memory and like the portrait Ori had given him when he had left Erebor. Sixty years had passed, indeed, and he was now a very old hobbit, but for a dwarf as young as she had been then, it didn't make much difference. She hadn't been eighty when he had joined the company of Thorin Oakenshield, which meant she wasn't even a hundred-and-forty now, which was still relatively young for a dwarf.

"Will she remember everything?" he asked in a lower voice, his eyes fixed on her face.

"I don't know" Elrond sigher, shrugging his shoulders.

Bilbo bit his lip. He didn't know whether he should hope that she would or not. If he had a past such as hers, maybe he'd wish to never have to remember it. When she would realise that she lived in a lie for sixty years, that her whole family is dead and that everyone believed her dead for the past six decades, what would she do? Even worse, when she would remember that Kili is gone…he didn't want to think about it.

* * *

_She had been walking all day and night had fallen when they finally arrived in front of the hill they had been looking for. There were two people walking in front of her but she couldn't see their faces ; they had their backs on her. All she could see was that one of them had golden hair while the second one had messy dark hair falling on his shoulders. They were both heavily armed and she realised that she was as well. _

_They stopped in front of a little green round door and the dwarf with blonde hair pointed at a strange rune that had been put on it. _

_"__That's the one" he said. _

_That voice…she knew it too._

_They knocked on the door and after a couple of seconds, a hobbit in his nightgown and with a both confused and exasperate look on his face opened the door._

* * *

"Bilbo" Luna whispered, shifting in her sleep.

The old hobbit raised himself up on the chair he had been sitting and took her hand. He had insisted on watching over her and had dismissed the elves, promising to call for them if anything happened.

She slowly opened her eyes. First, she kept her glance on the ceiling then it trailed on the room and landed on the hobbit.

"I saw you" she said in a little voice. "In my dream"

He nodded, fighting against the tears dwelling up in his eyes. She raised herself into a sitting position, leaning her back against the head of the bed.

"You were younger"

That made him chuckle.

"Sixty years younger" he nodded. "What do you remember?"

"Not much. Only that I know you. I met you in your hobbit-hole. I was with two others but I didn't see their faces"

He nodded again.

"You know what happened to me, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes…"

"Tell me"

"Luna…"

"Please, tell me. I need to know"

He reached for her hand and warmly squeezed it.

"You will, when you will be ready, you will remember everything" he promised.

"But I'm ready! I've been waiting for sixty years, what so terrible thing could have happened that after all this time, I wouldn't be ready to know?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head.

"It will come, I promise. You can trust me, I am your friend"

She just sighed, resigned.

* * *

_"__Luna" _

_That voice. Again. _

_"__Luna, open your eyes" _

_She tried but at that moment, terrible flashes of pain came from her right leg and her chest. She gasped and tried to move but it only made it worse. _

_"__Open your eyes" the voice gently said. _

_It was very close and she felt a warm breath near her face. _

_She fought as hard as she could against the pain and finally managed to open her eyes. _

_At first, she saw nothing ; her vision was blurred by the pain but then she focused and she realised that she was on that same platform she had so often seen, except that this time, she wasn't standing on the other side, looking at the two people laying in each other's arms ; she was herself laying on the ground, where she had now guessed she had once been. _

_The other dwarf was there, just against her, his arms around her body as if to keep her from being taken away from him. _

_"__Luna" he whispered. "Look at me" _

_And she couldn't. She did not know why, she craved to see his face and finally know who he was but her whole body suddenly seemed to freeze and she wasn't able to look up to see his face, inches away from hers. _

_"__Please…" he begged. _

_"__I…I can't…" she muttered. _

_Then, all of a sudden, everything collapsed into darkness._

* * *

Weeks passed. Bilbo and Luna spent a lot of time together. Even if she didn't remember everything yet, she quickly understood why he had once been her friend and she enjoyed his company.

Now, almost each night brought new dreams that brought back some memories to her and she now recalled that she had been on a quest with the hobbit and a whole company of dwarves. She even remembered most of them and some of the things they had been through. Even the name Erebor now sounded familiar to her.

Bilbo was at the same time happy and worried. Happy because the things she remembered were for most of them happy memories that he liked to recall with her. Worried because what she had left to discover were the things he feared would destroy her : Thorin, Fili, Kili and her own role in the quest as the captain of Erebor, last member of her line.

He had asked Elrond why her mind kept hiding her the three dwarves and her family and the elf had only been able to say that it wanted to protect her as long as it could. And every morning, the hobbit waited for her in fear of seeing her arriving with the truth in her eyes.

Then, during a cold night in the beginning of autumn, what had to happen finally happened and she woke up with a single word on her lips ; a name and that name, that single name, sounded like the most dreadful cry of agony that had ever been heard in the valley of Imladris.


	3. The strongest bond

_**Hi guys, sorry for the late update, I was very busy with University work lately and didn't get much time to write. Thanks for your review and continual support, it always makes me very happy! There will only be maximum one more chapter before the real adventure begins so hang in there, in the meanwhile, let's see how Luna will cope with everything. As always, let me know what you think, your comments, suggestions, remarks, anything and enjoy this chapter :)  
**_

* * *

**Chapter 3 : The strongest bond**

_"__Please, Luna, open your eyes" _

_She was laying on the platform again, pain flashing through her whole body and the strong arms of that other dwarf around her. And once again, he was almost begging her in that voice that she now knew so well to open her eyes._

_"__Look at me" _

_She tried as hard as she could to push the pain away and forced her eyes open. As previously, her vision was blurred at first and it took a few seconds until she could see properly. He was there, like every night._

_"__Luna" _

_She needed to try, she needed to fight that thing keeping her from looking up at him and finally see his face. This time, she was determined. She tried to push away the unknown strength that was keeping her body frozen and unable to move but it's only when she felt his fingers brushing against her cheek and that she heard the word he whispered that it finally worked : _

_"__Amrâlimé" _

_Finally, she was able to look up and she at once got lost into the dwarf's warm brown eyes that were enveloping her with more love than she had ever seen. _

_"__Kili…" she muttered then, before she could make a move, everything plunged into darkness._

* * *

When Luna woke up, she found herself tangled in her sheets, sweat on her brow and curling into a little ball to try and escape the terrible pain that was piercing her heart.

At first, she wasn't able to scream, she wasn't even able to breathe as all her memories came back to her. Her childhood with Fili and Kili, then her life hidden in the blue mountains, Logan's death, Laïn's and Lunkin's massacre, the destroying of her home by the orcs, then Fili and Kili again, and Thorin, their quest, the first time they had come to Rivendell and how she had met Haleth, her growing feelings for Kili, Thorin officially making her the captain of Erebor, her and Kili's first kiss at Beorn's, then their confessed love in Laketown, the dragon, the mountain, the captain's chambers, her night with Kili, the dungeons, the battle and the platform.

"KILI!" she finally managed to scream in agony.

He was dead, they were all dead. Images flashed in her mind of Fili being stabbed then dropped by Azog from the top of the watch tower, Thorin running after the orc while herself was going after Kili. They were dead and sixty years later, she was alive.

She didn't even realise Haleth and Elrond bursting in her room until they were next to her, trying to untangle her from the sheets.

As soon as her eyes landed on them, she brutally pushed their hands away.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled and she completely ignored the hurt in Haleth's eyes. "You monsters!"

"Luna…"

She raised herself on her elbows as well as she could.

"You knew! You have known from the start! And you lied to me for the past sixty years!"

"Luna, you need to ca…"

"Don't even dare speak to me! How could you do that?! Who gave you the permission to take me away from him?! I was with him! I was…I…"

"What on earth is going on here?"

They turned to see Bilbo in his nightgown standing in the doorframe. He had been woken up, like many others, by the girl's cries and had at once jumped out of his bed.

The hobbit's eyes passed from Luna to the elves and he understood what had happened in a couple of seconds.

"Leave us" he said, walking towards the young girl.

"But…" Haleth started.

"Go away!" she yelled at him again. "I never want to see you again!"

Elrond grabbed his arm and pushed him out of the room then closed the door behind them.

"Cowards! Traitors!" she was still yelling.

She didn't even realise that she had tried to stand up and with the way she was still tangled in her sheets and the fact that she only had one leg, she stumbled and would have fallen if Bilbo hadn't caught her.

"Luna…" he started.

"They lied to me! They betrayed me!"

"You…"

"They took me away from him! He is my One! Kili is…"

"Dead" he cut her off, fully aware that he had probably just smashed the remaining pieces of her heart, but it was necessary. "Kili is dead. I went to his funerals, sixty years ago"

"He…He…" she started, her pitch getting higher.

She wasn't able to finish her sentence and suddenly burst into tears.

Bilbo sat on the edge of the bed with her and closed his arms around her as she was falling limpness against him, shaking with uncontrollable sobs.

He rocked her back and forth as if she was a little child and tried to get her out of the mess she had made with the sheets.

"Please…tell me this is not real" she sobbed after some long minutes, when she found herself able to pronounce some words again. "Tell me I'm just having a nightmare"

He sadly sighed and kissed the top of her head.

"Please, Bilbo…tell me…tell me that they are in Erebor, all three of them"

"It's not the same Erebor they went to, my dear. And I am afraid it is one we can not reach from here"

Her sobbing started again and this time, it lasted even longer. The hobbit was also struggling to push away the tears that were dwelling up in his eyes as he was gently stroking her hair.

Dawn had come when she finally calmed down a little bit. She was still completely letting herself go against him and he would never have thought of letting her go.

"I was ready to die" she whispered.

She had no more tears to cry and no more strength either so her voice came not only as broken, but as very weakened as well.

"We were both ready to die, together. That's how it should have happened, that's how…"

Her pitch got higher again so he gently shushed her.

"I know, Luna. I know"

"Why did they do that? Why would they save me?"

"I believe they will be more suited to answer that question" he vaguely answered.

"I never want to hear them again. I never want to see them again"

"Luna…"

"They are traitors. All of them. Gandalf too"

"They didn't decide to have your memory removed"

"But they didn't decide either to help me remember"

"Maybe it wasn't their role. It is your own mind that hid you the truth for so long, because you wouldn't have been able to bear the shock of finding out about all that earlier"

"And you think that I am able now?! You think I would ever have been able?! They were…they were my family, Bilbo! My family! And Kili…"

Even pronouncing his name hurt.

"He…he was my One, my life and now…now my life is dead…and I'm just here…"

"Shh" he shushed her, fearing that she would break down into tears again.

He gently rocked her back and forth again. They stayed like that again for a little while until they heard a little knock on the door and an elf lady came in with a tray full of food.

"Lord Elrond sends this breakfast for you" she said in a soft voice.

"He can keep it!" the young girl barked.

"Thank you" Bilbo said in a voice that was trying to cover Luna's. "Please put it down on that table over there"

She did as he said and quickly left the room, surprised and a bit scared at the same time by the young girl's attitude.

"Come on" the hobbit squeezed her knee and finally parted from her to stand up. "Let's eat something"

He took a piece of bread and put it in her hand. She looked at it in disgust, gave it back to him and lied down on the bed again, turning her back to him.

"Luna" he sighed. "You need to eat something"

She did not answer.

"Come on" he gently pressed her, putting a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged him off.

"Leave me" she whispered.

"I can't do that. You are my captain, remember?"

"I am not the captain anymore, I don't want to be"

"What do you want?"

There was a little pause then her voice came again, shaky and full of despair:

"I want to die"

* * *

_"__Luna" _

_She was laying down again, but this time she knew it wasn't on the platform. Nothing hurt and she was rather comfortable. She opened her eyes to find out she was in a large bed and realised that she knew it : it was the big double bed of the captain's chambers in Erebor, the one in which she had slept with Kili. _

_Kili… _

_He was there, laying next to her, looking at her with a mix of sadness and concern in his warm brown eyes. _

_They looked at each other in silence for a little moment then a tear rolled down on her cheek. _

_"__You're dead" she whispered. _

_He nodded and gently wiped the tear away from her face. He bit his lip when she stiffened at his touch._

_"__Why are you here? I remember now, why do I still dream of you?" _

_She hadn't meant to sound mean but she realised that it had hurt him a bit. _

_"__It is not a dream…at least not exactly" _

_She raised an eyebrow at this. _

_"__What do you mean?" _

_"__All the dreams you had where you either saw or heard me…they weren't exactly dreams, they are the last connection that remains between us through our bond" _

_"__What?" she asked, bewildered and sitting up on the bed. _

_He sat up as well and took her hands. They were slightly shaking._

_"__We share a bond, my love" he softly said, reaching to brush his fingers against her cheek. "Our bond is stronger than death and refused to let us be separated. I am dead, and you are alive, we don't belong to the same world anymore but our bond is just like a bridge between these two worlds" _

_She was staring at him with wide eyes, unable to decide whether this was all due to her mind playing tricks on her or not. _

_"__For the past sixty years, I haven't been able to truly stay in Mahal's kingdom…something, our bond, was holding me back. I could see you, all the time. I can always see you and I watched over you ever since the moment I died on that platform" _

_"__But how…how could I not feel that? How could I not feel our bond?" _

_"__Your mind was keeping it hidden from you…They were right you know, if you had realised from the start what had happened, you would have died too" _

_"__But I wanted to die! I…I still do! I was supposed to be with you!" _

_He gently shushed her, bringing her face closer to his to touch his forehead with hers. _

_"__Don't say that. No matter how badly I wish we were together, I am happy you survived. Luna, your life is stretching ahead of you, you are free, you can do whatever you want" _

_"__My life with you isn't worth living" _

_"__Of course it is. And you are not without me, I am here, I have been with you for the past sixty years and I will always be" _

_"__But how? This is wrong, you should be either in one world or another, not balancing between the two because I am holding you back" _

_"__You are my world, Luna. The rest I don't care about" _

_She sighed then hesitantly took his hand and looked at it._

_"__For sixty years…you watched me not remembering you. That's unfair" she whispered. _

_"__I watched you recover from the battle, and I am grateful for that. Now you remember and you can see me too" _

_"__But only in…in sorts of dreams. It's like you…you are a ghost haunting me instead of being at peace in Mahal's kingdom" _

_He shrugged his shoulders. _

_"__I could never be at peace if I don't have you near me" _

_"__But you don't, Kili. You are…dead while I'm alive" _

_Tears dwelled up in her eyes and he took her in his arms. It felt so real she wanted to believe everything was normal and that she had just had a bad dream about Rivendell. _

_"__If I die, I'll be with you?" she asked in a whisper. _

_He took her face in his hands to look into her eyes._

_"__Luna, I forbid you to kill yourself, is that understood? I want to be with you just as much but promise me not to do that" _

_"__Kili…" _

_"__Promise me, or I won't come again" _

_"__No, please!" _

_"__Then do it" _

_"__I…I promise" she sighed, a tear rolling down on her cheek. _

_He kissed her forehead. _

_"__I know it's hard, love, but if you don't live for yourself, then live for me" _

_"__I will try…" _

_Kili lied back down on the bed and opened his arms to her. _

_"__Come here" _

_She snuggled against him and he closed his arms around her to hold her close to him. She rested her head on his chest and they stayed like that in silence for a few seconds. _

_It only took Luna a couple of seconds to feel like something wasn't right but it took her a bit longer to realise what it was : even with her ear pressed against his chest, she couldn't hear Kili's heartbeats because he didn't have any anymore. _

_Fighting against the tears dwelling up in her eyes again, she rested her head instead at the base of his neck. _

_"__I am sorry I wasn't able to protect you" she whispered. _

_He took her hand and brought it to his lips for a sweet kiss. _

_"__Don't ever be. You were the greatest captain Erebor has ever known, but I was a fool. Maybe this is how it was supposed to be" _

_"__I don't believe we were supposed to be separated like that. I was the one who wasn't strong enough to fight Azog and Bolg" _

_"__You killed Bolg, and Thorin killed Azog. They are now History" _

_"__But at what cost?" _

_"__Luna, I beg you to not blame yourself. I know you will and there is nothing I can do that will change that, but please, listen to me when I tell you that is was not your fault" _

_She sighed but didn't pursue the conversation. Instead, she placed a soft kiss on his neck and soon, they rolled over on the bed and she found herself underneath him. _

_She lost herself in his eyes and he softly ran his thumb on her lips while biting his then, very slowly, he bent down and she closed her eyes when he pressed his lips against hers. _

_Their kiss started slowly and gently yet it felt like something inside her was exploding in a million fireworks. She ran her hands in his hair and pulled him closer to her, their kiss growing deeper and more passionate. _

_When they parted, she was panting for breaths and realised with a little pinch to the heart that he wasn't. She placed her hand against his chest where his heart was and bit her lip when she felt nothing once again. _

_"__I have been waiting sixty years for this" he whispered with a little smile. _

_She did not reply and he put his hand on hers against his chest. _

_"__You make my heart beat so fast it can't be felt anymore" he winked at her with a little grin and she couldn't help but smile and poke him on the head. _

_He chuckled and bent down to kiss her again. _

_Luna wasn't sure how long passed before they parted again and Kili softly kissed her nose. _

_"I__ have to go now" he whispered. _

_"__But…" _

_"__You need to wake up" _

_She clutched to his shirt and suddenly looked scared. _

_"__But I will see you again, won't I? Tell me I will, otherwise I am not sure I will be able to bear it" _

_"__Ssh, yes you will, I will always be with you" _

_"__The next time I sleep, I will see you?" _

_"__I swear I will be there" he whispered, kissing her cheek. _

_She nodded. Oh, how badly she wished she could just stay in his arms. She wasn't sure how she would make it through the day. _

_"__See you then" she murmured. _

_She felt him softly kissing her lips one last time then everything fell into darkness._

* * *

When Luna opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Bilbo sitting on the edge of her bed, sadness mixed with worry in his eyes.

"Luna?" he softly called.

She sighed and a tear rolled down on her face. She just wanted to fall asleep again to be with him, and maybe even to never wake up.

But she had made a promise to him and it was the last thing she could hold on to so she would do it and be strong, for him.

"You will be alright" the hobbit softly said, squeezing her shoulder.

She shrugged her shoulders and sat up. No, she would probably never be alright anymore but at least, she would be strong...or at least, she would try. She was about to get out of bed when she realised she had no idea what she was going to do.

"Here, eat this" Bilbo said, handing her a piece of bread. "You will need energy"

"For what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she understood he wasn't only implying that it was so she would get better.

"The lady Arwen arrived a couple of hours ago with an interesting surprise"

"What surprise?"

The hobbit sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly, he looked like the sixty years that had passed were heavily weighing on his shoulders.

"My nephew, Frodo. Apparently, he was wounded by something Elrond called a Nazgûl. He is being taken care of as we are talking...a ranger was with him when Arwen found them. He will arrive shortly with three other hobbits...one of which happens to be my gardener"

"What were they doing in the wild? And since when do Nazgûls roam in these parts?!"

"I have no idea" he sighed. "I am old, you know…but I have a strange feeling that bad things are about to happen"


	4. Elrond's council

**_Hi everyone! Again, sorry for the late update, I am so busy at the moment, but I promise I will try to be quicker! Things are finally starting to move in this chapter and the great adventure is about to begin, yay! Thanks for your support, let me know what you think :) _**

* * *

**Chapter 4 : Elrond's council **

With the arrival of his nephew, Bilbo had spent more time with him and less time with Luna. At first, the hobbit had refused to leave her. More than his captain, she was his friend and he had lived his greatest adventure with her, there was no way he could leave her now when she needed him most. It is not before she had almost locked him out of her room to force him to go and see Frodo that he had agreed to leave her alone for an hour or two.

Some days had passed and while the hobbit had feared at the beginning that she might try and kill herself, he had been relieved to see that she hadn't. Of course, she still refused to see most people and especially Haleth and Elrond. Gandalf had arrived as well the day after she had remembered. Everyone in the valley probably heard her screaming at him and although she did not want to see him either, he still came to visit her everyday, despite her protestations.

The only ones she still accepted to see were Arwen who she had only met a couple of years ago when she had come back from Lorien and who thus hadn't known what was going on in Rivendell, and Aragorn who was the rider who had found the hobbits. He had been but a young man when she had been brought back to Imladris by Haleth and hadn't been aware of her true identity. They had quickly grown fond of each other and a real friendship had settled between them.

The rider had arrived with the three other hobbits that morning, she hadn't seen them yet but she had heard the horns announcing their arrivals. She stayed in her bed for a few more minutes, wishing to fall back asleep so she would be with Kili again.

She had thought she would see him every night but it wasn't exactly the case. After she had seen him the first time, it had taken three days until he came again. They had been once again in the captain's chambers in Erebor and he had told her how he could not cross the bridge between the two worlds every night, else he would be forever lost in the interspace that laid between them. She hadn't really understood everything : the living can never fully understand the dead, but the idea of losing him forever had been enough for her not to insist.

This night, she had been with him again for the third time in Erebor. They were never doing much ; simply laying in each other's arms in bed. He often spent some time telling her to be strong and made her promise she wouldn't do anything stupid. That was about it. They had been parted for sixty years and although their reunion wasn't exactly the one they could have wished for and that they never had much time, it was still better than nothing.

Luna let out a deep sigh and pushed the tears dwelling up in her eyes away. She couldn't just spend the rest of her life crying, it was worthless. Plus, she knew he would see it and she didn't want to make him think she was that weak. Deciding she would definitely not fall back asleep, she pushed her blankets away and sat on the edge of her bed when she suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she coldly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just me, may I come in?" came a familiar voice.

"Aragorn!" she exclaimed.

He opened the door and stepped in the room. She looked him up and down, he had obviously just come back from his journey and hadn't even taken time to change or rest.

"I thought you were a rider, not a hobbit rescuer?" she asked.

He didn't reply and looked at her in concern.

"How are you?" he asked, walking towards her to sit next to her on the bed.

She shrugged her shoulders and lowered her head to hide her struggle to keep a composed face.

"What do you know?" she asked.

"Not much I think…I only just came back, Elrond told me you had finally remembered your past"

She nodded.

"I have"

It was his time to sigh and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"You know, I…I have read about Erebor and the quest of Thorin Oakenshield and his company to reclaim it. I have heard many stories and learned a great deal about the lonely mountain…its treasure, its kings…its captains"

She tensed up.

"And to tell you the truth I sometimes wondered if you were that Luna the stories talked about. The last captain of Erebor who disappeared and most likely died after the battle of five armies…but it sounded so unreal"

"I wish it was unreal" she whispered.

"So it is true?"

She slowly nodded.

"Yes" she sighed. "I am Luna, daughter of Laïn, last captain of Erebor who let Durin's line disappear. Nice to meet you"

"Look, I don't know what happened exactly sixty years ago, but I am sure it wasn't your fault in any way"

"Yeah…you're not the first one to say that"

"Then I am not the first one to be right"

He put his arm around her shoulders.

"How do you deal with all that?" he asked.

She paused for a moment. The answer was thanks to Kili who was still there, somewhere in another world, watching over her, but she didn't know why, she did not want to tell anyone about that, not even Bilbo or Aragorn.

"Really, I just want to fall asleep and never wake up again" she said. "But it is not what he would have wanted. He would have wanted me to be strong"

The dunedain nodded. He had heard as well songs about the love between the prince of Erebor and the captain and had been taught by Elrond himself how much the dwarves' ability to love their One was beyond what even elves could understand.

"That's right" he said. "That's what he would have wanted"

"Aren't you going to see Arwen?" she asked to change the subject.

He absentmindedly smiled. The thought of his lover was enough to make him happy.

"If you need anything, just let me know, understood?" he said while standing up.

She nodded.

"Thank you"

And he left. She looked at the door that he had closed behind him for a few moments then sighed and decided that it would do her good to go for a walk. She hadn't left her room ever since the night she had remembered everything and staying locked up in here wouldn't be of any help.

She grabbed her wooden leg and put it in place then stood up and went to her little bathroom.

She literally hadn't left her bed for a good week and she wasn't surprised to find herself looking like a mess when she met her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was so tangled she knew it would take a long time to set them properly again and she looked so pale she could have been a ghost.

She decided it would be better for now to avoid mirrors and washed herself, untangled her hair as best as she could and changed her clothes before going back to her room, grabbing her walking stick and stepping out of the door.

Her only wish was to meet no one on her way to the gardens and simply go for a walk there. She had to keep her mind busy else she would think about Erebor and the dwarves again and break down. Never in her whole life had she felt so helpless and useless.

She was so lost in her thought while walking to the gardens that if she met anyone in the corridors, she did not even notice it. Fortunately for her, she did not realise it but if she had passed by those corridors only a few minutes later, she would have met guests that had been invited by Elrond and had just arrived from everywhere in Middle-Earth, some of which she knew…

* * *

"Lost in your thoughts?"

Luna startled at the voice and looked up to find Gandalf thoughtfully looking at her.

"What do you want?" she dryly asked.

"Only to sit with you for a while"

"I want to be alone"

She rolled her eyes when he ignored her last sentence and sat himself next to her on the little bench she had chosen in Elrond's gardens.

They stayed silent for a little moment during which the wizard took his pipe out of his robe and started smoking it. She watched him blow out a ring of smoke that soon disappeared in the air.

"It is good to see you out of your room" he said after a little while.

"I had hoped to find some tranquility"

He ignored the attack and shrugged his shoulders.

"It is true that Elrond's gardens are a wonderful place. Whenever I am in Rivendell, I like to come here to think. Just like you are doing now"

"Why didn't you tell the dwarves I was alive?" she suddenly asked.

"Tell me, Luna, what would you have done if you had stayed in Erebor as the last captain without anyone to protect anymore?"

She bit her lip.

"But I would have been with my kin!" she argued.

"You are fooling yourself. Erebor was never you home from the start, you knew you would have just ran away if not died. Kili was the only thing that was keeping you there"

She could not help the tears rolling down on her cheeks.

"Tell me the truth, Luna. If you had woken up in Erebor, alive while the others were dead, what would you have done? "

She shook her head.

"Answer me" he insisted.

"I couldn't have lived there" she whispered, her voice shaking. "I…I would have died"

"And we couldn't let you die. Middle-Earth still needs you. Will you be there?"

"I don't know" she sobbed. "I can't think properly of what to do…I don't want to stay here anymore, but where would I go? I can't return to Erebor…nor to the blue mountains…I will just end up roaming the lands like a ghost until the day I finally die"

"No you won't"

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it.

"Something is about to happen…something for which we will need you. I know I have no right to ask you any more thing and you don't have to do it for me but you can do it for the dwarves"

"The dwarves?"

"The threat we face today concerns all of Middle-Earth, all its people, all its lands…if we were to fail, all would fall, including Erebor"

She wasn't sure why but that made her stop crying. She stared into the distance for a moment and frowned. Erebor and the dwarves in general were threatened by something that she did not know yet but something inside her suddenly seemed to want to stand against that thing. Just like an old captain's reflex.

"Speaking of which, it reminds me of why I have come to find you" the wizard exclaimed. "Elrond is holding a council tomorrow to decide about what is to be done. People came from everywhere in Middle-Earth…some of them you have met"

"Who, Gandalf?"

"Elves, dwarves,…you will see. Your presence is requested"

"Maybe I'll come" she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Have you seen Bilbo? I want to see him"

"He must be with his nephew. You should meet him, I am sure you two would get along"

She vaguely nodded, grabbed her staff and made a move to leave when the wizard called her back.

"Luna…"

She turned around and shot him a questioning glance. She raised an eyebrow, he suddenly looked sad and tired.

"I am sorry, my dear. I truly am. I wish he had lived" he sighed.

"It would have been simpler if I had just died" she coldly replied then left.

* * *

The next morning was held Elrond's council. As Gandalf had said, many people were there : elves, dwarves, men and Bilbo and Frodo for the hobbits.

Luna had thought of not coming at all, in the end why would she care for the people who had kept her away from her real self for so long? But in the end, that thing inside her that she had felt when the wizard had mentioned Erebor being threatened had made her get out of bed, get dressed and join Aragorn on his way to the meeting.

"Bad hair day?" he teasingly asked when he saw her arriving with her coat tightly wrapped around her and her hood on her head, hiding her face.

"I am just not sure I want to be recognised" she replied, elbowing him in the stomach.

Gandalf hadn't been precise when he had told her about who would be there so she didn't know whether the people she had apparently met would recognise her or not but she didn't want to take the risk.

"Allow me" Aragorn said, offering her his arm.

"I am able to walk on my own, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"I know you are, I just wanted to be nice"

She rolled her eyes and hid her little smile underneath her hood. Aragorn sometimes appeared to be someone serious and even quite grave but whenever he was with her, he was always more joyful and loved to tease her. She took his arm and they made their way to the council where many chairs had been placed in a circle in which some were already seated.

When her eyes landed on those who were already there, waiting for the meeting to start, Luna gasped and bit down on a cry. She was suddenly very grateful to Aragorn for holding her arm else she would probably have stumbled and fallen to the ground.

"Luna, are you alright?" her friend whispered with a frown.

She nodded, too shocked to speak and quickly went to take her seat besides Bilbo was already there as well.

Gandalf had been right : she knew some of these people, she even knew them very well. A bit more to her left, some elves were sitting together, unmistakably elves from Mirkwood and the one sitting in the middle was Legolas Greenleaf, son of Thranduil, that had been her friend long ago. And a few seats next to him, there were some dwarves from Erebor, including two that she knew too well : Gloïn who had been in Thorin's company to reclaim Erebor, and his son Gimli who she remembered from when she was a child and that she lived with Fili, Kili and Dis in the blue mountains.

All at once, fear creeped up her spine. How would they react if they recognised her? Would they be happy? Would they be, like she thought they owed to be, angry at her and disgusted by the way she had been tranquilly living in Rivendell for the past sixty years while the others had died? She didn't dare think more about it for now and tried to ignore as best as she could the curious glances that came from everywhere in the circle and were directed at her.

Finally, after a few minutes that felt like an eternity, Elrond arrived and everyone grew quiet and turned their attention on him.

"Strangers from distant lands, friends of all time, you've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands on the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, to this one doom."

Well that was quite a nice way to let a tensed silence settled on the little assembly. For the first time since she had arrived, Luna forgot about her acquaintances and widened her eyes. She had heard about the dark lord Sauron, if he had come back, like it seemed to be the case, then it was terrible news for everyone.

Elrond turned to the young hobbit sitting next to Bilbo.

"Bring forth the Ring, Frodo"

He awkwardly stood up and slowly walked to a little table in the middle of the circle. There, he put down a simple golden ring that instantly caught everyone's eyes. They were all silent for a few minutes, staring at the little thing that seemed to captivate them.

"So it is true" a man from Gondor said. His name was Boromir. He stood up and looked at everyone. "In a dream, I saw the Eastern skies grow dark. But in the West there was a lightning and voices crying _the doom is near at hand_. So Isildur's bane is found"

As he talked, he stepped closer to the table and Luna tensed up when he tried to reach for the Ring.

"Boromir!" Elrond shouted but suddenly, Gandalf stood up and in a deep dark voice, started pronouncing words in black speech that brought a terrible atmosphere around them. Boromir stumbled backwards until he was back on his chair and everyone suddenly looked sick and as if they were having terrible headaches.

When the wizard stopped, Luna took a deep breath and found herself tightly holding Bilbo's hand.

"Never before has any voice spoken the words of that tongue here in Imladris" Elrond exclaimed.

"I do not ask your pardon, master Elrond for the black speech of Mordor may have been heard in every corner of the West. The Ring is altogether evil" Gandalf replied.

"It is a gift!" Boromir exclaimed, standing up again. "A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him!"

"You can not wield it" Aragorn calmly replied. "None of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It had no other master"

"And what would a ranger now of this matter?"

From underneath her hood, Luna shot him a dark glare but Legolas was quicker to react.

"This is no main ranger" he coldly said, standing up. "He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance"

Boromir's eyes passed from the elf to the dunedain and he looked at him in awe.

"Aragorn? This is Isildur's heir?" he muttered.

"And heir to the throne of Gondor" the elf finished.

"_Sit down, Legolas_" Aragorn sighed.

"Gondor has no king" Boromir darkly told the elf before going back to his seat. "Gondor needs no king"

"Aragorn is right, we can not use it" Gandalf said, getting back to the subject.

"You have only one choice : the Ring must be destroyed" Elrond informed them.

"What are we waiting for?"

Luna gasped when Gimli suddenly stood up and, raising his axe above his head, lowered it towards the Ring. When the weapon touched it tough, a strange force sent him backwards and he landed on his back.

Despite the gravity of the situation, the young girl couldn't subdue a little smile. She hadn't seen Gloin's son in ages yet it felt like he hadn't changed much.

"The Ring can not be destroyed, Gimli, son of Gloin, by any craft we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade and it must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back in the fires from whence it came. One of you must do this"

"One does not simply walk into Mordor" Boromir sighed. "Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. And the great Eye is ever watchful. It is a bare waste land, widened with fire and ash. The very air you breathe is but poisonous fumes. Not with ten thousands men could you do this. It is folly"

"Have you heard nothing lord Elrond has said? The ring must be destroyed" Legolas exclaimed, standing up again.

"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it!" Gimli dryly replied.

"And if we fail?! What then? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?"

"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an elf!"

And, before anyone could prevent it, most of the assembly stood up and started arguing loudly between each other. The only ones still sitting were the two hobbits, Elrond, Aragorn, Luna and a few other elves. Gandalf let out a deep sigh and joined the others, trying to bring them to reason and calm them down.

Luna sadly shook her head. That seemed to be one thing that hadn't changed in the past six decades : elves and dwarves still couldn't get along.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Frodo suddenly stood up.

"I will take it!" he said but none had heard him.

He took a few steps towards the group while she was widening her eyes.

"I will take it!" he repeated, finally getting the others' attention and they all fell silent again, looking at him in shock. "I will take the Ring to Mordor…tough, I don't know the way"

He looked very small in the middle of all those elves and men yet he had their most complete attention. Gandalf fondly looked at him then stepped towards him and squeezed his shoulders.

"I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins. As long as it is yours to bear" he said.

Aragorn stood up in his turn and walked to the hobbit.

"If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword"

"And you have my bow" Legolas added, coming to stand with the little group that was forming.

"And my axe" Gimli exclaimed, joining them.

"You carry the faith of us all, little one" Boromir said. "If this is indeed the thought of the council, then Gondor will see it done"

Was it the insistent glare Gandalf sent her that made Luna stand in her turn or was it simply her instincts taking the situation under control and acting in her place? She did not know and would for long wonder. Yet, at that precise moment, while she had wished for nothing more than to remain silent and as discreet as possible during the whole council, she felt that her time had come to step up. Why? She did not know. Something inside her told her it was her time. Her chance to leave Rivendell, maybe, but also her chance to be a part of that group that would go and try to save Middle-Earth and its people, her chance to save her kin one last time.

All the eyes landed on her little form taking a few steps towards Frodo. With all that had happened, they had almost forgotten about that strange person whose face they hadn't seen yet.

"It was once my duty to protect the lives of a king and two princes. Let me now protect yours" she said.

Boromir snorted at this and looked her up and down. He hadn't seen her face yet for she was still covering it with her hood but she had the voice of a woman.

"Excuse me, my Lady, or whoever you are, but I am not sure you understand what's going on here. We are talking about a dangerous journey that will probably lead us to meet many foes. This is no vacation or pleasant trip suited for a woman, even less such a tiny one who needs a staff to walk"

For a couple of seconds, there was a deadly silence during which those who knew who the young girl was feared that she might throw herself at Boromir and rip him apart.

"Out of respect for another race, I won't kill you" she icily said after a pause. "But know that I was already roaming these lands and facing foes you would never imagine when you weren't even born yet"

The man looked shocked, like many others. Only two people, except of course Gandalf, Elrond and Bilbo, narrowed their eyes. That voice…that way of speaking…both Gloin and Legolas felt at that moment like they knew it.

"Who are you?" Boromir muttered. "Show us your face!"

Maybe if she had not been that angry at him, she would have thought better and found a way not to reveal her identity but all she wanted now was to prove him wrong and confront him.

With a quick, abrupt move, she got rid of her coat, freeing her thick auburn curls that streamed down her back. She locked her big dark blue eyes with Boromir's and like all the others, his eyes quickly flashed to the white moon-shape scar on her face and to the wooden leg replacing what she had lost of her right leg, then he met her eyes again. They were beautiful, the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, but something in them seemed to diminish their light, something sad that had nothing to do with her current anger.

She kept her glance voluntarily locked on the man in front of her to not look at the other dwarves and she ignored the shocked gasps that came from her old acquaintances.

"Luna?!"


	5. Reunions

_**And here is the fifth chapter! I hope you guys don't hate me too much for not making Kili live through the battle of five armies, I swear it saddens me too...However, as you saw, he is still more or less present and I hope you will still enjoy the little scenes between him and Luna once in a while. In the meanwhile, the fellowship is now (almost formed) and Luna's second great journey is about to begin! But will she manage to forgive Haleth and Elrond? Will she ever be happy again without Kili? And how will Gloin and Legolas **_**_react to the fact that she is alive? You will know some of the answers in this chapter! Enjoy :) _**

* * *

**Chapter 5 : Reunions **

At first, there was a silence during which all stared at the young girl whose eyes didn't leave Boromir for a second.

The looks on the faces of the members of the council were very different : most were frowning, not understanding what was happening. Others, mostly elves who knew the story of the captains of Erebor but had never actually met Luna had narrowed their eyes as if slowly putting the pieces together and figuring out the situation. And finally, Legolas and the dwarves, especially Gloïn and Gimli, were staring at her with wide eyes, completely petrified and unable to speak.

"I am Luna, daughter of Laïn and last captain of Erebor" she said in a voice as neutral as she could.

"The captain?" Boromir repeated in a lower voice. "I heard the last of them died during the battle of five armies"

"She survived, and she is here now to take part in this new quest" Elrond said.

The man didn't add anything and the young girl stood behind Frodo with the others, still doing her best to ignore all the stares directed at her.

"Hey!" suddenly came a voice from behind a bush, breaking the tension that had settled.

They all snapped their heads in the direction of the voice and a hobbit left his hiding place to come running towards Bilbo's nephew. "Mister Frodo is not going anywhere without me" he declared, folding his arms.

"No indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret council and you're not" Elrond said with an amused smile.

"Wait! We are coming too!"

Another two hobbits suddenly arrived out of nowhere and stood by Frodo as well under the elf's bewildered look, who was wondering how many more hobbits had secretly assisted to his council. "You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop it"

"Anyway, you need people of intelligence in this sort of mission…quest…thing" Pippin proudly argued.

"Well that rules you out, Pippin" Merry whispered to him and Luna couldn't subdue a little smile.

She had briefly met those three other hobbits when Bilbo had introduced her to his nephew and had at once known that she would probably get along with them. Plus, as soon as she had saw them, Merry and Pippin had immediately made her think of Fili and Kili who used to be that close and childish when they wanted to.

"Nine companions" Elrond pensively said, looking at the little group that had gathered around Frodo. "So be it. You shall be the fellowship of the Ring"

"Great!" Pippin exclaimed. "Where are we going?"

* * *

The day of the departure had been set a few days hence, leaving them enough time to prepare for their journey. As soon as the council had ended, Luna had discreetly slipped away then walked as fast as she could to her room, hoping that no one would try and talk to her, especially not Legolas, Gloin or Gimli.

When she had arrived in her room, she had collapsed on her bed and cried in silence then had slowly fallen asleep, hoping that Kili would come but he didn't.

When she woke up the next day, she let out a deep sigh. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid her old friends much longer. She put on her wooden leg, washed herself and got dressed then, as she was about to leave her room, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in"

The door was pushed open and she immediately tensed up when Haleth stepped in. He hadn't been present during the council but from the look on his face, she had no doubt he had learnt what had been said and decided.

"What do you want?" she asked, more dryly than she had intended.

"I need to talk to you"

She folded her arms, waiting for him to speak. Still a couple of days ago, she wouldn't even have wanted to see him but, although she was still angry at him and would probably be for a very long time, she had understood that he had just wanted the best for her, regarding what _he_ thought was best for her.

"I heard you want to go with the Ring bearer to Mordor"

"I am going with him, yes"

He let out a sigh and suddenly looked sad. He took a step towards her but without even thinking about it, she stepped backwards and he froze, hurt in his eyes.

"Please, stay here" he begged her.

"No"

"Luna…"

"Why would I even stay here? In this place where I have been lied to for sixty years? In a place where I should never have come back?"

"I know you are angry and you have every right to be…but everything I did, I did for you. I doubt I will ever convince you of that, but it is the truth. If we hadn't brought you here…if you had remembered everything from the start…you would have died, Luna"

"Yes. And what you don't understand is that it is what I wish had happened. It's what should have happened"

He sadly shook his head.

"Please, at least think about it. You are not how you were in the quest for Erebor, you…you never fully recovered from your wounds, you haven't wielded a sword in sixty years and you only have one leg, you need a staff to walk"

"And? So does Gandalf"

"This is not reasonable, you are going to get yourself killed"

"Then be it. And this time don't try to save me. Plus, if I recall correctly, when you took me from Kili after the battle of five armies, it was so that I could still be useful to Middle-Earth, wasn't it? Well here is my chance, I did not survive and lived locked up in here to not cease my chance to do what I survived for"

"You…"

"Leave me" she suddenly cut him off.

"Luna…" he sighed.

"Please, leave me alone. I don't want to speak about it anymore, not with you"

She tried to ignore the hurt in his eyes as he looked at her before turning his heels and leaving the room.

* * *

Luna walked in the gardens for about an hour, trying to clear her thoughts when she suddenly saw Gandalf speaking with Gloin and Gimli a bit further under a tree. She froze and made a move to turn around and go back the way she came before they realised she was there but it was too late already and when she met Gloin's eyes, she could do nothing but walk towards them.

"…and here she is now" the wizard finished as she arrived. "I will leave you three alone"

Both Gloin and his son were still looking at her in shock and apparently unable to speak or move. She saw her old companion's eyes pass from her white moon-shaped scar to her leg then back to her eyes.

"You…how…how…" he mumbled.

"Good morning, Gloin" she whispered, lowering her head.

"I can not be…" he muttered.

She hadn't known what to expect, but probably not being lifted from the ground in a rib-cracking hug that left her short on breaths.

"You're alive!" the dwarf exclaimed, tears streaming down on his face. "I can't…I can't believe it, you're alive!"

"Gloin, I…I can't breathe!"

He let go of her, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand.

"Sorry" he mumbled.

"Gandalf just told us everything" Gimli said. "It is unbelievable. For sixty years, everyone thought you were dead!"

"I know…I…I am sorry"

"What?" Gloin exclaimed. "What do you mean you're sorry?"

"Well, I…I failed the company, I failed everyone! Not only haven't I be able to protect Thorin, Fili and Kili, but I disappeared for sixty years, leaving everyone behind. I don't understand…you should be angry…disgusted…"

"Are you out of your mind?" Gloin said, obviously shocked by her words.

"But I…"

He put both his hands on her shoulders and warmly squeezed them.

"For a long time we looked for you after the battle…we couldn't bring ourselves to think that the one thanks to whom we had gotten our home back was lost to us. We despaired to find you and had to organise funerals and carve your name into the stone without any sign of your body. And now I come here and find you alive despite everything!"

"I…Gloin, don't say that" she whispered, lowering her head again. "Thorin was the one thanks to whom Erebor was reclaimed…I was just…I was just a failure"

She almost stumbled when he slightly shook her.

"I forbid you to say such words, is that understood, lass? Without you, we would never have made it. I thought Gandalf told us you had recovered your memory, it sounds like you still don't remember plenty of the things that happened"

She couldn't subdue a little chuckle when he winked at her then she turned to Gimli.

"I suppose you remember my son, Gimli?" Gloin asked.

"How could I forget you? It seems like an eternity ago we were children in the blue mountains with Fili and Kili"

"Aye" he said, clapping her on the shoulder. "I shall never forget those times. I am happy to see you again, Luna"

"And I you"

They then spent the best part of the morning talking together. Gloin told her what had happened after the battle, when the company had gone to Ravenhill to find them and besides Dwalin and Bilbo, had only found corpses. His tone was sad when he spoke of how there had been evidences that she had been laying next to Kili ; the blood on the platform, her weapons scattered over the place including the dagger embedded into Bolg's neck, a lock of her hair on the ground next to the young prince and especially, the way he still looked as if he had been holding her in his arms a few moments ago.

"We knew you hadn't ran away on your own, lass" he sadly said, shaking his head. "You would never have done that ; if you had been alive and able to walk, we would have found you crying over his body…"

She quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes.

So they had looked for her, everywhere, without resting for many long days. She was only half surprised to learn that Dwalin had searched the longest and the farthest, never wanting to give up until they had had to come to the evidence that they were looking for a small body lost in the middle of a terrible war. Some had assumed she had probably been unintentionally buried or burnt with others after the battle, others still thought orcs had taken her but to what purpose none could explain. Nevertheless, they had had to stop their vain search and had organised a funeral for her and carved her name into the stone.

He then told her more joyful things : how the dwarves had come from the blue mountains to settle back in Erebor, how Dain was a great king, how Dis, although her grief would never leave her, had become an important part of his council and he told her everything about what the members of the company had been up to. Notably, she thus learned that Ori and Balin had gone a few years ago to settle back into Moria that had obviously been deserted by the orcs and that although they hadn't gotten any news for a little while, they thought everything was fine over there.

He also asked her about herself but there was not much to tell : just that she had woken up three months after the battle here, missing one leg and the shock of learning what had happened had caused her to lose her memory. Then she had just lived here, always wishing she could go away but never really allowed to, not knowing what had happened to her, recovering from her wounds as best as she could and sometimes having those strange dreams that she now knew had been caused by Kili but that last part she kept secret. All that until the moment her dreams had become more and more frequent and real-looking and how she had started to remember with Bilbo's arrival a few weeks ago.

"I was scared to let you see my face" she admitted. "I didn't know how you would react, but I wasn't expecting anything too joyful…as I told you, I thought you'd hate me"

"I don't know a dwarf who could ever hate you, lass" he shook his head. "Oh, I can't wait to see the faces of the others when I will tell them you're alive!"

"What?" she suddenly froze.

"Yes, I'm going back to Erebor tomorrow. They will be so happy, they…"

"Gloin!" she suddenly exclaimed, taking his hands. "I think…it would be better if no one knew about me"

She saw his face turn from happiness to incomprehension.

"What? But why? Dwalin, Dis, Bofur, Nori,…everyone needs to know you are alive"

"No, please. It is still hard for me to admit but I think that, despite everything, Elrond and Gandalf were right…I don't belong to Erebor anymore"

She wanted to add _I never really did_ but just bit her lip.

"I don't understand" Gimli said.

"I can not go back to the mountain, especially not without…without Kili and the others"

It still hurt to say his name and she didn't doubt it would always hurt.

"The line of Durin is extinct and, just as it was predicted, the line of the captains as well" she added. "Even if I came back to Erebor, what would I do? Nothing, I would just hate myself until I die. Plus…it looks like something else is now calling for me"

"But…you are our captain"

"I was and I failed. No, don't try to say I didn't, everyone is telling me that but I know I did. If I hadn't, then either Thorin, Fili or Kili would be ruling under the mountain now. But they aren't. I could do nothing to protect them however, something inside of me pushes me to go on this new quest, not only to escape this place, but also because everyone, every kingdom in Middle-Earth is threatened…including Erebor. Including you. Please…I wasn't able to protect them sixty years ago…but today, it seems a new chance is given me to stand against darkness to protect our kingdom. I know it is much more than I deserve…but it is the last thing I can do, the last thing that keeps me going. Without that, I…I am nothing anymore"

There was a pause during which Gimli stared at his feet and Gloin just looked paralysed.

"Gloin please…if to you I am still your captain, then you have to trust me and let me try and protect Erebor. One last time"

He let out a deep sigh and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Then promise me something" he said.

"What's that?"

"If you come back from all this…and I bloody hope you will, come back to Erebor. Even just once, we won't keep you there but…just come back once. I won't say a word to the others, but they deserve to know you are alive and what you did for them when it will be over"

"Gloin…"

"Please. Just that. They have all looked for you for so long and grieved a hundred times longer…every now and then they still go to honour your name in the stone. They deserve to see you one last time"

She lowered her head then slowly nodded.

"I will try" she whispered.

"That's my lass" he said, squeezing her shoulder.

* * *

There was someone else Luna knew she would have to see sooner or later, ever more because they were supposed to be part of the same company and would be travelling across Middle-Earth together very soon.

She met him two days after the council, in a corridor as she was heading to the library. She had already found it strange that he hadn't tried to see her earlier but what was even stranger was the way he froze and made a move to turn around when he saw her.

"Legolas!" she called.

He slowly turned his glance on her and they stayed silent for a little while. She was petrified. After her warm meeting with Gloin, she had been less scared of seeing him and, as he was his friend and not even a dwarf of Erebor who could have been mad at her for disappearing, she had expected him to be at least a bit happy to see her.

"So…here you are" he said in a strangely low voice after an awkward silence.

"Here I am" she repeated. "I…I am sorry I went missing for so long…and that everyone thought me dead…"

"Don't be" he shrugged. "Elrond told me everything, it is not you who decided to be here and lose your memory"

"Still I wish it hadn't happened"

"I bet. Did you have anything to tell me…? Gandalf called for me so…"

She widened her eyes and shook her head.

"No…" she mumbled.

He nodded and turned his heels to start walking away.

"Legolas, wait" she called and he stopped but didn't turn around and kept his back on her. "I…I am happy to see you again"

This time he shot her a quick look behind his shoulders then only nodded and without a word, left the corridor, leaving her completely speechless by that cold reunion.

* * *

Although Legolas' strange behaviour had both surprised and hurt her, Luna didn't really get much time that day to think about it : she had to say her farewells to Gloin was was going back with the rest of the dwarves to Erebor.

They had gathered in front of the main entrance of Rivendell and a few elves, as well as Gandalf, Aragorn and Bilbo were there to see them off.

"Be careful on your way back. The road to Erebor is long, and growing more dangerous in these troubled times" Elrond said.

"Aye, don't worry, we're used to it" Gloin replied.

Luna watched as Bilbo warmly embraced the dwarf with a pinch to the heart. Although Gloin could still live many long years, the hobbit's life span was much shorter and she had had to admit it in the past few weeks ; it was slowly coming to an end. This was undoubtedly the last time they would see each other.

She quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes when the dwarf turned towards her and she walked to him to hug him tightly. She absentmindedly smiled as he did so : dwarves' hugs were the tightest and warmest she had ever known and although she couldn't have remembered them for sixty years, she had realised these past few days how much she had missed them.

"Take care of yourself, lass" he whispered to her. "I am not sure I will be able to sleep well until I know you are safely returned to us"

"I will and you too. Elrond is right, the road is long and dangerous"

"It will be alright, we've already made it once with a whole pack of orcs lead by Azog on our trail, remember?"

She chuckled.

"I will look after Gimli" she promised.

"Aye, and he swore to me he would look after you too. I am happy and proud to know that he will be traveling with you tough"

She gave him a modest smile.

"Go now. You can't delay any more" she whispered.

He nodded and clapped her on the shoulder.

She took a few steps back to allow him to embrace his son one last time then he threw his bag on his shoulder and waved them goodbye.

Their little group was already halfway across the bridge leading them out of the valley when Gloin turned around.

"Don't forget your promise, lass! I'll be waiting for you!"

"I won't, don't forget yours either!"

"You've got my word!"

They waved one last time and then, they were gone.


End file.
